For many among the tens of thousands of Americans who thronged to the National Mall to mark the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, President Barack Obama's challenge to seize the cause of racial equality from the "glorious patriots" of the tumultuous 1960s struck a deep generational chord.

From the nation's capital to a Georgia mountain carved with a Confederate memorial, church bells and hand bells served to answer Dr. Martin Luther King's call from 50 years ago to "let freedom ring" for all people.

An officer struggling to subdue a woman at the scene of a family dispute acted properly when he hit her in the head and wrestled her to the ground, despite her repeatedly telling officers she was pregnant, the police chief said.

A man with a history of harassing and threatening Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has been arrested after he allegedly sent an email to the FBI and media threatening to decapitate the first-term congresswoman.

A woman who admitted abandoning a dog later found at the bottom of a trash chute in a case that became a cause celebre and led to tougher animal cruelty laws was sentenced to probation Thursday by a judge who urged the animal's supporters to "put things in perspective."

A central New York maintenance worker duped out of a winning $5 million scratch-off ticket will get his money next month, seven years after being scammed out of the jackpot, state lottery officials said Thursday.

President Barack Obama has briefed House Speaker John Boehner on Syria in a conversation in which the Republican leader pressed the president to make the case to the nation and Congress for military action.

Federal inspection teams have been conducting spot safety checks of rail shipments of crude oil from the booming Bakken oil region in Great Plains states in response to last month's rail disaster in Canada, U.S. officials said Thursday.

The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday accused a small Atlanta-based medical lab that specializes in cancer detection of not doing enough to protect its patients' online records, resulting in the leak of Social Security numbers and birth dates of more than 9,000 consumers.

As part of its $160 million proposed discrimination settlement with black financial advisers, Merrill Lynch has agreed to make sweeping changes that "may well change the landscape of Wall Street," attorneys said Thursday in court filings.

The Washington-Moscow Hot Line, used by U.S. and Russian leaders for frank discussions about crises including the 1967 Six-Day War and the Soviet Union's 1979 invasion of Afghanistan, marked its 50th birthday Thursday with the nations still grappling with competing interests in regional conflicts.

The White House and a breakout group of eight Republican senators have been unable to find agreement in their attempts at reaching a bipartisan budget deal, separated by long-standing differences over whether to only reduce spending on large benefit programs or whether to combine those cuts with increased tax revenue.

A Kentucky man called 911 just minutes after killing his wife, sobbing and confessing to a dispatcher that he fatally shot the cancer-stricken woman, and asking to take a last look at her before his arrest, according to recordings released Thursday.

Months after gun control efforts crumbled in Congress, Vice President Joe Biden stood shoulder to shoulder Thursday with the attorney general and the top U.S. firearms official and declared the Obama administration would take two new steps to curb American gun violence.

Popsicles, fans and outdoor classes were no match for a late-summer heat wave in Minneapolis, where schools finally gave up after struggling through three miserable days of classes, while soaring temperatures also were giving students time off in Colorado, Nebraska and Iowa.

News that hundreds of threatened desert tortoises face euthanasia with the pending closure of a refuge near Las Vegas has generated a storm of reaction that has government officials scrambling to find alternatives and fielding offers from people wishing to adopt the reptiles or make donations.

A dozen men filed a broad new lawsuit against the Boy Scouts and former adult leaders Thursday, saying that abuse occurred regularly in Washington state sites such as a popular camp outside of Seattle.

Phillip Agnew hoped to deliver his message to tens of thousands observing the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, but time worked against him. Now he's making up for being cut with an online video.

A 60-year-old National Park Service employee was critically injured in an apparent assault in southeastern Arizona, and her government-owned truck was later found in a border town about 40 miles away, authorities said Thursday.

Prosecutors portray a friend of the surviving Boston Marathon bombing suspect as a liar who misled terrorism investigators, but his lawyers said after his indictment Thursday it'll be clear in time that authorities shouldn't have charged him.

The White House says President Barack Obama's decision on a possible military strike against Syria will be guided by America's best interests, suggesting the U.S. may act alone if other nations won't help.

Despite 75 years of federal marijuana prohibition, the Justice Department said Thursday that states can let people use the drug, license people to grow it and even allow adults to stroll into stores and buy it _ as long as the weed is kept away from kids, the black market and federal property.

Half an hour after putting her two children to bed, a Phoenix mother discovered they were gone. Frantic and fearful they had been kidnapped, she called police, who spotted her car near her apartment and tried to pull it over.

The nation's top intelligence official said Thursday that he'll now release figures every year on how many new top secret court orders and national security letters are issued and how many people are targeted because of them.

The mother of a 14-year-old girl who was raped by her teacher and later committed suicide appeared at a raucous Thursday protest against the judge who sentenced the man to a month in jail and said the victim was "older than her chronological age."

Fast-food workers and their supporters beat drums, blew whistles and chanted slogans Thursday on picket lines in dozens of U.S. cities, marking the largest protests yet in their quest for higher wages.

Airports are known for having endless vending machines, restaurants and magazine stands designed to help make traveling more comfortable. But now, there's a new stop along the terminal that caters specifically to nursing mothers.

The intelligence linking Syrian President Bashar Assad or his inner circle to an alleged chemical weapons attack is no "slam dunk," with questions remaining about who actually controls some of Syria's chemical weapons stores and doubts about whether Assad himself ordered the strike, U.S. intelligence officials say.

British Prime Minister David Cameron lost a vote endorsing military action against Syria by 13 votes Thursday, a stunning defeat that will almost guarantee that Britain plays no direct role in any U.S. attack on Bashar Assad's government.

The National Security Agency on Thursday disputed a published report that secret intelligence budget files provided by agency leaker Edward Snowden show that the surveillance agency warned in 2012 that it planned to investigate up to 4,000 cases of possible internal security breaches.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Friday the Obama administration was consulting with allies to "further develop the facts" about last week's alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria, and options for a response.